Introduction

The Firewood vaporizer is a handmade wooden vaporizer that people struggle to find a label for. Its low price and wooden constructions make it an easy comparison to the Magic-Flight Launch Box, but it operates on a completely different premise. The Firewood defines its own league of vaporizer and shows how much growth the industry is capable of. Designed by one vaporizer enthusiast, the developer of the Firewood posted his progress in designing the vaporizer I now hold in my hand. As you can see below, the first seven generations of the Firewood went through quite a few revisions. Being around to see the development, launch, and growth of the Firewood was a unique experience which leaves me anxious to see how it grows from here!

Look and Feel

The Firewood has an all wood body that comes in a variety of wood compositions. My Firewood vaporizer (which you can see in all the photos) is the unfinished maple hardwood variety. This means that the final sanding and polishing is left up to me, but the sandpaper and polish is supplied along with a small block of maple hardwood to practice on.

The Firewood feels good in the hand, this is due to the rounded edge on one side of the vaporizer. The weight feels appropriate for its size, not too light which would imply that it was fragile, or heavy that it weighs down my pockets. The small window located on either side of the Firewood is in place to prevent the wood from coming into direct contact with the heating element. I can see the depth of the load in the Firewood through the small window, but I cant make out any details. I’d also like to note that the area around the window and between the two windows on the side of the Firewood will get very warm while you’re heating.


The power switch located on the flat side is slightly recessed into the vaporizer, this helps prevent the Firewood from accidentally turning on in your pocket or bag. Since just turning the Firewood on isn’t enough to start the heating element, I’d say there is very little danger of torching a chamber while in transport as I have with other vaporizers in the past. When the switch is in the on position (up) a green indicator light to the left of the switch turns on to let you know that the Firewood is ready to heat. When the button under the switch and indicator lights is engaged the orange light to the right of the switch lights up to let you know that the chamber is heating.

The bottom of the firewood is home to the charging port. The top of the Firewood has an opening for the glass stem to fit into and a hidden magnet on the other end of the top for the full stem assembly to stay in place. The stem assembly is a wooden wafer that is 3/16″ thick and just over 2″ lon, the actual stem itself is 1.5″ long and made glass. The wooden stem assembly has two holes and a hidden magnet. The first hole has a rubber ring in it to hold the stem in place, it has a very firm grip on the stem and I have no concerns at all about the stem moving on its own. The second hole functions as a funnel to help load the Firewood.

 

Instructions

The instructions may seem intimidating at first, but I urge everybody who owns or plans on owning a Firewood to read through the instructions to fully understand how to use and care for the Firewood.

 

My Experience

My first reaction was to hate the Firewood vaporizer. Not because it doesn’t work, but because of the learning curve involved. I’m glad I took the time to practice and learn, the Firewood is a quality vaporizer that can deliver clouds as large or small as you need if you have the right technique. I have a history of torching chambers with vaporizers that rely on the user to control the temperature via draw speed and pulsing the heat. Knowing that, I was very careful to make sure that I’m not bringing the chamber anywhere near the point of combustion. My careful attitude resulted in undercooked loads and underwhelming results.

Once I sat down and read through the instructions a second time and followed them to the letter, I was rewarded with a much more pleasant experience and thicker clouds. My secret to enjoying the Firewood is to have patience and a willingness to learn. Once I had learned to adjust my draw speed and had developed a rhythm to controlling the heat I was able to get thick draws consistently.

Loading the Firewood was a bit difficult as the chamber is rather tight and the loading funnel built into the stem assembly makes the opening even smaller. You can turn the stem assembly lid sideways and line the loading funnel up perfectly, but then the magnet won’t hold it in place and you’ll have to keep a hand on it.

The Firewood offers two different kinds of screens (both shown to the right). There is a coiled wire “cap” and a balled up mesh screen. I had initially tried to use just the wire cap, but was constantly getting small pieces of herb in my mouth and throat. At that point I had removed the wire cap and put a balled-up screen (it took me almost 10 minutes to get it balled up the way I wanted) into the stem. I was happy with coverage provided by the balled-up screen, but didn’t want to lose my wire cap (I like to keep all the parts associated with the vaporizers) so I put the wire cap back on the stem.

Verdict

For its price ($89 for the unfinished maple hardwood) the Firewood is a terrific vaporizer that provides a portable all-in-one experience (meaning the battery is built into the vaporizer without the need for external batteries or heat source). While it doesn’t compete with the features and ease of use that can be found in the higher end portable contenders (Pax and Ascent for example), the Firewood can deliver full hits and excellent battery time (I’m at about 4 sessions on one charge). Its also important to note that the Firewood was developed and is sold by a member of our community who wanted to contribute to the available portable vaporizer market, and continues to participate in the community.

Pros:

• Inexpensive without being cheap, one of the least expensive well built vaporizers
• Well built and solid, doesn’t flex in your hands like a plastic vaporizer might

 

Neutral:

• Introducing others to the Firewood is hit or miss if they’re drawing technique isn’t right.
• Small window into chamber does little to help check on status of herbs

 

Cons:

• I still have some trouble finding the right rhythm without overcooking my chamber
• Full charge can take 4 – 6 hours, Firewood cannot be used by charging.

 

The Firewood can be purchased in a variety of different wood compositions directly from the manufacturer at http://firewoodvapes.com/.

 

Do you own a Firewood vaporizer? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of it!